What to Do About Piglet Diarrhea? A Detailed Guide to Practical Prevention and Treatment Methods
Piglet diarrhea has long been a major headache for the pig farming industry and a bottleneck restricting its development. It can cause stunted growth in piglets, or even growth regression, and in severe cases lead to death, causing enormous economic losses for pig producers. The causes of piglet diarrhea are many and varied. Below, let us take a look at the prevention and treatment methods for piglet diarrhea!
Causes of Piglet Diarrhea
1. Management-related diarrhea: There are more than 10 common causes of this type of diarrhea, such as insufficient milk supply from the sow, indigestion of milk replacer, deficiency of vitamins and minerals, excessive addition of copper to the piglet diet, excessive metal ions in drinking water, and stress factors such as weaning, grouping and moving piglets to different pens can all lead to diarrhea.
2. Bacterial diarrhea: Common types include yellow scour, red scour, white scour, paratyphoid and dysentery. Yellow scour mainly affects piglets from several hours after birth to within 5 days of age, and is most common at 1 to 3 days of age. Red scour mainly occurs at 1 to 3 days of age; the course of the disease is generally short, and the mortality rate is extremely high. White scour is most prevalent at 10 to 30 days of age; the mortality rate is low, but it affects growth and development. Piglet paratyphoid mostly occurs at 2 to 4 months of age. The main symptom of dysentery is mucoid bloody diarrhea.
3. Viral diarrhea: Common types include transmissible gastroenteritis, epidemic diarrhea, rotavirus infection, etc. Porcine transmissible gastroenteritis is an acute infectious disease caused by the transmissible gastroenteritis virus, characterized by vomiting, severe diarrhea, dehydration and a high mortality rate in piglets within 10 days of age; diseased pigs over 5 weeks of age rarely die. Piglet epidemic diarrhea is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by coronavirus, mostly occurring in winter and spring. Rotavirus disease is an acute gastroenteritis of piglets, calves, lambs, foals, young rabbits, etc. caused by rotavirus. Piglets are relatively susceptible, with pigs at 10 to 28 days of age being most susceptible, and it is accompanied by obvious diarrhea, with a relatively low mortality rate.
Prevention of Piglet Diarrhea
1. Timely weaning: Piglet weaning should not be based solely on time, but should be determined according to the piglets' feed intake (generally, for weaning at 28 days, piglets are required to have a cumulative feed intake of more than 500 grams per head); weaning should only be carried out when the piglets can eat feed eagerly.
2. Early food attraction: Start attracting piglets to feed at 7 days of age. Separate the piglets from the sow, feed milk at fixed times, gradually extend the interval between feedings, and force the piglets to search for food when hungry. For piglets that really will not eat feed, manual assistance should be used (mix the creep feed with warm water into a paste and smear it inside the piglet's mouth; generally after 3-5 days of training the piglets can eat feed on their own.).
3. Fresh pig feed: Do not store creep feed inside the pig house. Take out only as much as needed, and after taking the feed, tie the bag opening tightly. Feed in small amounts and add frequently.
4. Suitable trough positions: The creep feed trough should be placed in a location with suitable temperature to prevent piglets from refusing to eat because they are afraid of the cold.
5. Clean troughs: Creep feed troughs should be cleaned at least once a day to prevent piglets from eating moldy residue clinging to the trough overnight and developing diarrhea, and provide clean, sufficient drinking water.
6. Appropriate restricted feeding: For those with poor food attraction before weaning, appropriate restricted feeding can be adopted in the first 2-3 days after weaning. With restricted feeding, ensure sufficient trough space, and feed in small amounts and add frequently.
7. Environmental transition: For weaned piglets, maintain rearing in the original pen (1 week), maintain the original lactation-period feed (about 3 weeks), and make feed transition, feeding system transition, environmental transition, etc.
8. Appropriate warming: In the first week after weaning, the environmental temperature should be 1-2°C higher than before weaning (27-30°C), and then gradually decreased.
Treatment of Piglet Diarrhea
1. Create a good growth environment for piglets, keep the pen clean and dry, with suitable temperature and good ventilation. In particular, keep the temperature inside the house above 28°C during the first 1-3 days after birth.
2. Supplement piglets with trace elements such as selenium and iron within 1-3 days after birth. When clipping teeth and docking tails, inject 0.5 milliliters per head of long-acting oxytetracycline intramuscularly for health protection.
3. Vaccinate the sow with Escherichia coli genetically engineered polyvalent vaccine and viral diarrhea trivalent vaccine at 45 days and 35 days before farrowing respectively, which can provide specific protection for piglets.
4. Treatment for piglets that develop diarrhea.
① For piglets whose diarrheal feces is pasty, administer orally 10 milliliters per head of Fukcan, produced by Guangdong Dahuanong Animal Health, and simultaneously inject 0.8 milliliters per head of gentamicin intramuscularly. Twice a day for two consecutive days gives very good results.
② If the feces is watery, promptly give oral rehydration salts (formula: sodium chloride 3.5 grams, sodium bicarbonate 2.5 grams, potassium chloride 1.5 grams, anhydrous glucose 20 grams, add water to 1000 milliliters), while using 10 milliliters per head of Fukcan and injecting 0.8 milliliters per head of gentamicin intramuscularly. Twice a day for 3 consecutive days. In severe cases, intraperitoneal fluid replacement can be performed.
③ For piglets suspected of viral diarrhea, if fluid replacement and therapeutic medication do not produce ideal results, they can be weaned early and fed with rice porridge.